Restaurateur Sam Fox's 'love letter to Italy,' the latest to seal deal at The Union Dallas

Restaurateur Sam Fox plans to bring yet another of his restaurant concepts to The Union Dallas near Victory Park, by opening his firm's "love letter to Italy," called North Italia, in 2018.

The Italian eatery will join The Henry — another Fox Restaurant Concepts-branded restaurant — on the ground level overlooking the central plaza within the $300 million mixed-use development, which totals about 800,000 square feet of office, residential and retail real estate near Uptown.

^ That'll be a nice addition! The culturemap article is slightly wrong though, in that Dallas will be the 4th city in TX to get the concept and not the 3rd. North Italia will be opening in Plano at Legacy West next year. I think had they not opened True Food in Preston Center it would have been an interesting concept for this development.

Their website made me more excited for the place -- the food looks good and the prices aren't unreasonable.

This is dumb, I know, but this blurb under their "About" tab rubs me the wrong way:

Our pizza is a revelation: an airy, barely chewy center embraced by a perfectly crisp crust. With the spirit of the Italian taverna, North is the place to talk shop over a cocktail or swap gossip sharing delectable chef creations. Every neighborhood would be lucky to have a place like North.

"We've increased our construction crew four times over so things are really active at the site," said Brian Krouse, vice president of construction at Phoenix-based RED Development, in a statement.

The development firm began construction on The Union Dallas in April. At completion in 2018, The Union Dallas will bring a 22-story office tower and a 23-story apartment tower to this part of Dallas.

The mixed-use development will add about 800,000 square feet of real estate at Field Street and Cedar Springs Road, with 87,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, an outdoor plaza and 10 levels of parking.

It's going to be less easy to forget as it rises out of the ground and becomes a dominate feature in that area. This is such a big hole of parking madness being filled in. Can't wait to see the finished product and how these two towers alter the feel of this area.

I agree - this will do a lot to connect Downtown/Uptown to Victory. I would so love to see a little spur off the existing trolley line down Olive Street to the AAC - it's only 1/2 mile... seems to me it could have a huge impact - including lots of riders.

By Uptown doing so, Downtown has been stepping up its game. The burbs have long been stealing companies but Uptown stealing them has made Downtown properties valuable and more competitive than ever before. Almost every dated 80's tower has been sold in the last 5 years and is or will be renovated. Some like Trammel Crow Center are building more space and creating stronger blurs between new and 80's dusty towers of granite and glass. There are almost no historical buildings left to buy and turn into residential either. New hotels are constantly going vertical in Downtown. New development is going up around the CBD helping contribute to the CBD become central again. Cedars, Southside, Deep Ellum, Design District, East Dallas/Baylor, Trinity Groves, Victory and West Dallas. I am not as worried about Downtown cause it's burning through a new energy that will continue to work alongside Uptown's pomp and high prices.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:By Uptown doing so, Downtown has been stepping up its game. The burbs have long been stealing companies but Uptown stealing them has made Downtown properties valuable and more competitive than ever before. Almost every dated 80's tower has been sold in the last 5 years and is or will be renovated. Some like Trammel Crow Center are building more space and creating stronger blurs between new and 80's dusty towers of granite and glass. There are almost no historical buildings left to buy and turn into residential either. New hotels are constantly going vertical in Downtown. New development is going up around the CBD helping contribute to the CBD become central again. Cedars, Southside, Deep Ellum, Design District, East Dallas/Baylor, Trinity Groves, Victory and West Dallas. I am not as worried about Downtown cause it's burning through a new energy that will continue to work alongside Uptown's pomp and high prices.

I never thought of it like that, but you're right. In the short term, Uptown has certainly taken residents and jobs away from Downtown, but, without Uptown, I'm not sure if Downtown would be doing nearly as well as it is doing now.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:By Uptown doing so, Downtown has been stepping up its game. The burbs have long been stealing companies but Uptown stealing them has made Downtown properties valuable and more competitive than ever before. Almost every dated 80's tower has been sold in the last 5 years and is or will be renovated. Some like Trammel Crow Center are building more space and creating stronger blurs between new and 80's dusty towers of granite and glass. There are almost no historical buildings left to buy and turn into residential either. New hotels are constantly going vertical in Downtown. New development is going up around the CBD helping contribute to the CBD become central again. Cedars, Southside, Deep Ellum, Design District, East Dallas/Baylor, Trinity Groves, Victory and West Dallas. I am not as worried about Downtown cause it's burning through a new energy that will continue to work alongside Uptown's pomp and high prices.

I never thought of it like that, but you're right. In the short term, Uptown has certainly taken residents and jobs away from Downtown, but, without Uptown, I'm not sure if Downtown would be doing nearly as well as it is doing now.

And then you have the Design District. I expect for the design District to soon become Uptown Lite. It's proximity to Uptown / Downtown and it's relatively lacking in dense development. It's as close to a Greenfield that you're going to find near in Downtown.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:By Uptown doing so, Downtown has been stepping up its game. The burbs have long been stealing companies but Uptown stealing them has made Downtown properties valuable and more competitive than ever before. Almost every dated 80's tower has been sold in the last 5 years and is or will be renovated. Some like Trammel Crow Center are building more space and creating stronger blurs between new and 80's dusty towers of granite and glass. There are almost no historical buildings left to buy and turn into residential either. New hotels are constantly going vertical in Downtown. New development is going up around the CBD helping contribute to the CBD become central again. Cedars, Southside, Deep Ellum, Design District, East Dallas/Baylor, Trinity Groves, Victory and West Dallas. I am not as worried about Downtown cause it's burning through a new energy that will continue to work alongside Uptown's pomp and high prices.

I never thought of it like that, but you're right. In the short term, Uptown has certainly taken residents and jobs away from Downtown, but, without Uptown, I'm not sure if Downtown would be doing nearly as well as it is doing now.

And then you have the Design District. I expect for the design District to soon become Uptown Lite. It's proximity to Uptown / Downtown and it's relatively lacking in dense development. It's as close to a Greenfield that you're going to find near in Downtown.

Hopefully that triggers more improved Development in the CBD.

I actually believe that the Cedars and the Design District are going to become new concentrations of vertical density, possibly even more dense than Uptown and taller. I'm not sure about the height restrictions in the Design District, but the Cedars is the area to build tall.

More than a year ago, Vinson & Elkins announced that it would leave the Ross Avenue skyscraper when its lease was up in 2018.Vinson & Elkins signed a deal to lease about 80,000 square feet in The Union office development being built at Cedar Springs Road and Akard Street in Uptown.But now the law firm - which has about 145 Dallas attorneys and support staff - has shifted gears and renewed its lease in the Trammell Crow Center, downtown leasing agents say.

The completion date of The Union project no longer met Vinson & Elkins schedule, according to brokers."While timing did not align with the specific needs of Vinson & Elkins, The Union remains on track for a 2018 delivery and we look forward to announcing new tenants soon," a spokesperson for the project said in an email.

dch526 wrote:Downtown law firm Vinson & Elkins won't go to Uptown after all

More than a year ago, Vinson & Elkins announced that it would leave the Ross Avenue skyscraper when its lease was up in 2018.Vinson & Elkins signed a deal to lease about 80,000 square feet in The Union office development being built at Cedar Springs Road and Akard Street in Uptown.But now the law firm - which has about 145 Dallas attorneys and support staff - has shifted gears and renewed its lease in the Trammell Crow Center, downtown leasing agents say.

The completion date of The Union project no longer met Vinson & Elkins schedule, according to brokers."While timing did not align with the specific needs of Vinson & Elkins, The Union remains on track for a 2018 delivery and we look forward to announcing new tenants soon," a spokesperson for the project said in an email.

muncien wrote:Wow... very interesting. That's a decent chunk taken out of the Union's sails. But, I suspect they'll have little trouble filling it based on current demand. Good news for downtown though...

Definitely good news for DT. Haven't seen one go the other way in awhile.

With this loss, it puts the Union a bit over 40% now which isn't too bad considering they won't be open for another year.

Overall this is good news to me. It's a great sign that a company that was considering Uptown/Victory Park decided to remain in the CBD. Also, I doubt the Union will have any problems filling that space.